Simulação da propagação de ondas ultrassônicas longitudinais em materiais estruturais aeroespaciais / Simulating the propagation of longitudinal ultrasonic waves in aerospace structural materials

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

10/08/2012

RESUMO

The use of composite materials in the aerospace industry is increasing due to its low ratio between density and mechanical strength. To perform non-destructive testing using ultrasound, it is necessary to know the sound velocity in these materials. It is not always possible to manufacture physical prototypes during the development of a project because of time, construction limitation and cost; virtual models are therefore needed. The objective of this work is to develop virtual models to evaluate the wave propagation in composites and compare them with experimental results. Initially, an aluminum alloy is used in order to calibrate the model and configure some simulation parameters. The composite material analyzed is a unidirectional laminate, made from 97 layers of prepreg material (AS4/8552) from Hexcel¿. We use the finite element method to simulate the generation, propagation and reception of ultrasonic waves in the model. The focus of this study is the generation of longitudinal bulk waves, although the generation of Critically Refracted Longitudinal (Lcr) waves is also demonstrated. The reason is that the study is part of an ongoing research project on the development of ultrasonic techniques for measuring residual stress in composites, using acoustoelasticity. To enable the measurement of the ultrasonic wave velocity in different orientations, we manufactured a specimen in a prismatic shape (24-sided polygonal base). The numerical model consists of the ideal case, where the different materials are completely attached to each other and there are no problems such as delamination or voids. A simplified model of each layer was admitted, to use a less refined mesh in the simulations and reduce the computational cost. The volume fraction of reinforcement and matrix was maintained. A pulse of 1 MHz was inserted into the model and the discretization both in time and space was chosen consistently. Simulations for the case of 0° and 90° were made and a model for the other orientations was proposed. The results prove to be satisfactory and indicate that in the future, the simplified model adopted could be extended, taking into account nonconformities and a more heterogeneous distribution of the fibers, allowing the development of improved inspection tools.

ASSUNTO(S)

compósitos controle de qualidade - inspeção localização de falhas (engenharia) método dos elementos finitos testes não-destrutivos carbon composites engineering inspection fault location (engineering) finite element method nondestructive testing

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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